He was an evangel for photography, insisting that it be recognized as an art, and so he crowed that "The Metropolitan Museum has opened its sacred halls to Photography" when the museum accepted his gift of 22 photographs in 1928.

Because I am an evangelical Christian and the root of the word "evangelical" is found in the opening statement of Jesus in Luke 4, where Christ says he has come to bring "good news the 'evangel' to the poor."